A Name
by Anime Freak Sammy
Summary: "Who's Gilbert, daddy?" "Only the awesomest brother anyone could have." Rated T. AU.


**Summary: "Who's Gilbert, daddy?" "Only the awesomest brother anyone could have." Rated T. AU.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hetalia Axis Powers. If I did, well, then it would never be that popular.**

The sound of loud wailing could be heard for several blocks as the young Gilbert Ehrlichmann cried loudly as his father, Ludwig Ehrlichmann, picked him up and cradled his child in his arms. Ludwig shushed him softly, and made small cooing noises.

"Are you sure you'll be okay with him ~ve?" Ludwig's friend Feliciano asked as he stood by the open doorway.

"Yeah, it'll be okay Feli. He'll be fine once he calms down. Thanks for bringing him home," Ludwig smiled a bit as his close friend nodded. "I'll see you and Lovino tomorrow night?"

"Ve~ Lovi won't be able to come. He's hanging out with Antonio," Feliciano said.

"Okay, and thanks again."

Feliciano simply nodded and left, closing the front door quietly as to not disturb the father and son.

After what seemed like hours, Gilbert finally calmed down enough that he was only sniveling a bit and was taking deep breaths. Soon enough that stopped too, and Ludwig finally put him down, but not before making his way to the living room couch.

"Gilbert," Ludwig said sternly, his war-time tone resurfacing.

"Da-daddy," Gilbert softly said, shifting uncomfortably on the carpet.

Ludwig couldn't help but soften his expression a bit. He closed his eyes and patted the cushion besides him, a smile on his face. He felt the couch dip a little as Gilbert sat beside him. Ludwig opened his eyes to see Gilbert staring up at him with those red eyes of his. They were so young yet so full of the same vigor as him.

"Gilbert, what happened today?" Ludwig asked. "Why happened to make you cry so much?"

"I-I didn't cry Daddy," Gilbert protested, his lower lip sticking out in the same cute pout as him. "People as awesome as me don't cry."

'He's so like him,' Ludwig thought, his lips turned upwards in a small smile. "Okay, then, son. Just tell me what happened."

"It was Lizzy and Francine. They were making fun of me. They said I looked weird. And then they said that my name was stupid too." Ludwig could see that Gilbert was holding back tears from coming again.

Ludwig shook his head a bit. Little Lizzy Edelstein, the daughter of his friends Roderich and Elizaveta. And then Francine Bonnefoy, the daughter of that pervert, Francis. They always seemed to be the ones to pick fights with Gilbert, knowing that he couldn't fight back considering they're girls.

"Gilbert, you were named after one of the greatest men ever alive, Gilbert Beilschmidt."

Gilbert looked up, with albino red eyes full of curiosity.

"Who's that Daddy?"

"He was the greatest brother who had ever lived. He's your uncle, bubby."

"Uncle Gilbert? But I've never heard of him before, Daddy."

"That's because he went on a trip around the world. He still hasn't come back." At this, Ludwig frowned a bit and looked a bit sad. But he was too quick for his son, his pride and joy and his reminder of the past, to notice. He put on a smile and said, "Maybe when he comes back, you'll be able to meet him."

At this, Gilbert's face lit up and he enthusiastically said, "That would be so awesome Daddy! Can I go and play upstairs before dinner?"

Ludwig nodded and little Gilbert ran off, a huge grin plastered on his face. Ludwig sighed as soon as Gilbert was out of sight and made his way to his own room, ignoring the sounds of make believe airplanes that Gilbert loudly produced from the depths of his messy room.

Upon entering his own room, Ludwig sat on his bed and opened one of the bedside table drawers. He took out a single photograph, featuring two young men. One was significantly taller than the other and had his slicked back blond hair covered by a graduation cap, matching to the gown that he wore. The other has platinum blond hair, so pale it was almost white and blazing red-violet eyes. He was dressed nicely, in a suit and tie. It was taken right after Ludwig finally graduated from his last year of college. This was the last picture that Gilbert took with Ludwig before he disappeared. He's still missing to this day.

Ludwig replaced the photo and lay back, resting his head on one of his soft pillows.

~The next Night~

"Ve~ Ludwig, is Gilbert alright now?" Feliciano asked as they sat across the table at one of the young Italians favorite pizza places.

"Yeah, but I ended up telling him about my brother." Ludwig's expression drooped a bit at this but he quickly regained his friendly demeanor.

"Ve~ It's okay, Ludwig. It's been what? 4 years now?"

Ludwig nodded his head. Feliciano continued.

"And that's about the time you adopted Gilbert right?"

Ludwig nodded again. It all started one day, maybe a couple of weeks after his brother's disappearance, when he was walking down the sidewalk and a young boy no older than two bumped into him. The boy had stunning pale-blond hair and vigorous red eyes.

"_Hey! Watch where you're going!"_

_Ludwig looked up at the kind-looking young women who ran up to the young child, picking him up carefully._

"_I'm sorry if he hurt you, sir."_

"_No it's no problem. Is he yours?"_

_The woman shook her head and said, "Sadly, no. I run an orphanage a bit down the street. This little one has never had a real home. Nobody wants to take him just because he looks different than most." Her expression softened at this and cradled the boy closely. She said a quick goodbye and turned, already on her way home._

"_Excuse me, Miss!"_

_She turned back around, looking slightly surprised._

"_I would like to adopt him!"_

Feliciano's ringtone disturbed the silence between as he hurried tried to find it. He opened his phone and said, "Lovi? What's going on ~ve?"

Lovino's voice was so loud that Ludwig could clearly hear what the older Italian boy was rapidly saying.

"Feli! You need to come over to Antonio's right now! And bring that potato bastard with you too!"

"Okay, we're coming. See you in a few minutes ~ve!"

After getting a to-go box for their pizza and quickly picking up the young Gilbert from Elizaveta and Roderich's house, Ludwig drove the two of them the short drive the Spaniards house. Lovino was already waiting outside, his foot tapping the cement furiously.

"Took you long enough, potato bastard! Get in already!" Not even waiting to make sure that the two men behind him followed, Lovino marched inside, leaving the heavy wooden door open wide.

Ludwig and Feliciano, with Gilbert in hand, followed quickly, trying to match the pace of the angry Italian man, into the living room.

Ludwig's heart almost stopped as he spotted a shock of silverfish hair. His throat was tight and it felt dry.

The head turned and as it spotted the young German, it's face broke into a crooked smile and leaped up, hugging the much taller German.

"West!"

"Gil-Gilbert! You-you're ba-back!"

Ludwig felt a tug at his shirt and looked down to see his son, Gilbert, tugging at it slightly.

"Hold on, bro." Ludwig bent down and picked up young boy, holding him eye level with the man in front of them.

"Daddy, who's that awesome looking man?"

Older Gilbert laughed and said, "Finally someone recognizes my awesomeness!"

Ludwig smiled and said to his son, "This is your Uncle Gilbert."

The older Gilbert looked a little shocked at first and then finally said, "West, since when did you have a son! What's his name! He looks epically awesome just like his uncle!"

"My name's Gilbert too!" The younger Gilbert said.

"West. You named your kid after me?"

Ludwig nodded and smiled, placing his son on the couch besides Antonio.

"I've missed you brother."

"I've missed you too, West."

The two brothers embraced and hugged for the longest amount of time and when they finally broke apart, there were tears in both their eyes.

"Welcome home, big bro."

"It's good to be back, little bro."

**A/N: Originally, I was going to have older Gilbert die in a drunk car crash that Ludwig caused but I couldn't bring myself to kill him off. I have a hard time killing people I like. *Sigh* Please review/favorite or whatever it is you guys do nowadays. I'll try to upload my other stories more often now that I'm on summer break. **


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